Related

Actions

Information

22 responses

16122007

Kevin S. Coy(10:44:44) :

Great photos. Thank you for posting them. I particularly like the cavalry at Sudley Ford. Something about the little boys in their uniforms, staring at the cavalry, that I find compelling. The little girls seem occupied playing but the boys are imagining their own charge (or escape).

Keep up the good work, Harry. Bull Runnings is at the top of my must go to list.

I’m glad you like the photos. I’ll add any others I find from 1862, and will post other groups as they come along. You can access all the galleries by clicking on “Galleries” under “Pages” to the right.

You’re right because the O&A crosses a few miles southwest of blackburns ford and had to be much sturdier than this.

The only other railroad (aside from the military road you suggested) over bull run or cub run in the area was the unfinished line from Gainesville to Alexandria, but that one crossed bull run at Sudley ford and had stone bridge abutments (the abutments over cub run are still visible http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=655). Some say ruins of the military railway are still visible amongst the development but I have never seen them.

I think you’re right, since I’ve never run across any mention of a bridge there at the time of the battle. Like most of these 1862 photos, this doesn’t show the area in quite the same condition it was in at the time of the battle (1st), but it does at least provide an image of Blackburn’s Ford.

It appears to me that the 2 photos of Sudley Ford (Catharpin Run, Sudley Church & Cavalry at Sudley Ford) are taken on opposite sides at essentially the same place at the ford. Is that the way you see it?

I assume this is the location of what is now referred to as Sudley Springs Ford – the hillside terrain behind the wagon matches exactly the the forested area behind the current “Sudley Springs Ford” marker at the Park.

For anyone interested in MNP photos here’s a link to another fascinating collection…

The image labeled “View of Field (Unknown)” is taken from a camera position some distance (not yet sure of exact distance, I’ll work on that the next time I can get back to VA) behind the Stone House, looking across the Warrenton Pike and towards the ruins of the Judith Henry house. The Henry house is that blob on the horizon, towards the right side of the image. If you study the image labeled “Henry House Ruins”, and then look closely at the ruins on the right side of this image, you can see that they are the same, though reversed; the “unknown” image is just taken from the opposite side of the house and at a signifcant distance away. I am an artist specializing in works inspired by Civil War era Americans, and currently working on a piece based on the final days in the life of Judith Henry. A few months ago I ordered a very large, very detailed reprint of this image from Zazzle.com and in that version of the photo, the ruins are unmistakable.

[…] Amy Lindenberger sent the following in reference to the photo above, which appears in this Bull Runnings gallery:The image labeled “View of Field (Unknown)” (left photo above, click on thumbnail for larger […]

I enjoyed reading the article about the “Unknown” photograph, co-authored by Keith Knoke and Jim Burgess, drawing a different conclusion about camera direction than the one I presented – I had not come across this previously.

I don’t know Mr. Knoke, but I do know Jim Burgess who has been extremely helpful in providing information to me in the past, and I certainly don’t presume to know a fraction of what he does about the Manassas battlefield area. I’m going to go back to studying the images some more to see if I can visualize it the way they have. At least we agree that those are the ruins of the Henry House in the upper right section of the image, so that’s a start!

Jim Burgess has been a good friend to Bull Runnings from almost the beginning. Looking closer at the image, I can see how the fenceline running down the left to right middle of the photo can give the impression that it might border the Warrenton Pike, but I’m thinking there may have been more tree cover to the left of the photo if it were indeed taken facing south from the area of the Stone House. I could be wrong, though.

Hello All, great comments on the photos. When I first approached Jim B and John Hennessy about this image, they indicated there were some at Manassas who felt the image was taken from the Stone House. The photo in question really comes into focus when you go to the Robinson House walk down the tree line heading due west. This tree line is the location of the fenceline running from the forground to the top of the image. The best I could determine was that Barnard and Gibson were standing on one of the Robinson out buildings. Also keep in mind the shawdows. Ask yourself if you are standing at the Stone House facing south, could I get a picture (in March) with the sun comming from behind me? Consider vegetation. In the righ side of the image are orchard trees. The Robinson farm had a well documented orchard, the Stone House did not. PS, concerning the soldier graves image, we have determined its not exactly in the copse of trees by the visitor center parking lot, but rather just north of there. If you go there following a heavy rain, water still ponds there. Im currently completing a book with Garry Adelman on Manassas Images (then and now piece). The center focus being the B&G images of March 1862. By the way, If anybody can figure out the location of the image title “View of Field #2” present above, I would love to hear it. If you look closely there is what appears to be a court house or like image. Im beginning to believe this image was mis identified. By the way there are few other out there that are mis identified as being Manasass. Best Regards

[…] like is still in the all-time lead with 4,171 views (none of these numbers include feed readers). 1862 Photos of Bull Run is a distant second with 3,212. The most viewed post written this year has been Civil War Art […]

[…] John Hennessy has this great post up at Remembering: Musings on Fredericksburg and Manassas, in which he dissects this famous image of Sudley Springs Ford in March, 1862. See other photos from this collection here. […]

[…] James Gibson, in the employ of Matthew Brady. You can find lower resolution copies of the photos here, filed under the heading Galleries over to the right. A quick once-over doesn’t turn up any […]

Dulce bellum inexpertis

“I am sending you these little incidents as I hear them well authenticated. They form, to the friends of the parties, part of the history of the glorious 21st. More anon.”

About

Hello! I’m Harry Smeltzer and welcome to Bull Runnings, where you'll find my digital history project on the First Battle of Bull Run which is organized under the Bull Run Resources section. I'll also post my thoughts on the processes behind the project and commentary on the campaign, but pretty much all things Civil War are fair game. You'll only find musings on my “real job” or my personal life when they relate to this project. My mother always told me "never discuss politics or religion in mixed company”, and that's sound advice where current events are concerned.

The Project

This site is more than a blog. Bull Runnings also hosts digitized material pertaining to First Bull Run. In the Bull Run Resources link in the masthead and also listed below are links to Orders of Battle, After Action Reports, Official Correspondence, Biographical Sketches, Diaries, Letters, Memoirs, Newspaper Accounts and much, much more. Take some time to surf through the material. This is a work in process with no end in sight, so check back often!